Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, is strongly recommending no non-essential travel between northern communities. And there is enough concern, checkpoints have been established along all highways leading into the north. The province has also offered its fire suppression staff to support the checkpoints or provide any other required support in the north.

Six of the 10 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Friday are from Saskatchewan’s far north for a total of 28.  There have also be 10 more recoveries across the province, and a total number of cases at 341.

In addition to an outbreak at a long term care home in mid-April, the La Loche RCMP will have some new faces working inside the detachment and out in the community. Seven current members of the force are in self-isolation according to Saskatchewan Health Authority COVID-19 protocols. A civilian employee of the La Loche RCMP detachment learned Thursday that a Monday test for the novel coronavirus was positive.

The employee went into self-isolation following the Monday test while six other employees, two civilians and four police officers, were ordered to self-isolate while waiting to be tested for COVID-19. In addition, the Saskatchewan Health Authority ordered a thorough disinfecting of the La Loche detachment, police vehicles and other areas.

After the long term care home outbreak in La Loche, a portable testing unit was brought in to the community and protections and protocols around infection control were initiated.

Housing may be an issue for those needing to self-isolate. Social housing units are being provided, Moe says. The La Loche school can be used for housing and as well the Public Safety Agency can provide work camp trailers.

Friday’s Numbers:

The daily provincial COVID-19 update wasn’t what proponents of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan wanted to see. For the first time since April 7, the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus was in double-digits in Friday’s update. However, the 10 new cases, one of which is presumptive, was matched by 10 recoveries from COVID-19 in the province. That leaves 57 active cases for a second straight day with 341 total in the province and 280 recoveries.

The number of hospitalized patients across the province went down by one to five. However, two of those cases are being treated in Intensive Care. In the wake of these numbers, and the introduction of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, the Saskatchewan Health Authority reminds residents that the public health order limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people remains in place.

Of the 341 cases in the province:

• 136 cases are travellers;
• 145 are contacts or linked to mass gatherings;
• 34 have no known exposures; and
• 26 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan:

• 36 of the cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
• 150 of the cases are from the Saskatoon area, 73 from the Regina area, 64 from the north, 15 from the south, 11 from the central region and 28 from the far north.
• 26 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 121 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 117 are in the 40-59 age range; 66 are in the 60-79 age range; and 11 are in the 80-plus range.
• 51 per cent of the cases are males and 49 per cent are females.
• Four deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

To date, 26,586 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.  Per capita, Saskatchewan’s testing rate of 22,499 tests per million population exceeds the national rate of 16,755 tests per million population.